


The Circumstances of my Bathtub

by seijouslut



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: M/M, Multi, Other
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-02
Updated: 2017-12-09
Packaged: 2019-02-09 16:12:22
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,370
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12891681
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/seijouslut/pseuds/seijouslut
Summary: It had been ten years since that one fateful Iwaizumi Hajime had found Oikawa Tooru. Ten whole years that the boy had a mermaid living in his bathtub at home.





	1. First Day

Iwaizumi Hajime tapped his foot outside the entrance of the University gates, wondering how he'd managed to lose his boyfriend along the short walk from the house.

Oikawa had gotten a little distracted along the way, taking in all of his surroundings and stopping to point out almost everything. In his hand, he held a long stemmed pink flower against his chest which he'd stopped to pick on their way through the park.  
  
" _Darling_!" He called out, face stretching into a bright smile as he waved to the boy he spotted waiting for him. As the tall brunette reached the shorter male, he flung his arms around the boy's neck and nuzzled into him rather affectionately, handing him the flower with a flourish.

Iwaizumi shook his head at the sound of the now familiar name for himself that it seemed like Oikawa would never drop at this rate. He braced himself for the inevitable, wrapping his arms around Tooru's waist as the teen clung to him.

How funny to think only hours before, the tall brunette had been sat in their large bathtub at home, with a tail, complaining about the temperature of the water.

Mermaids mated for life and Tooru was absolutely no different. Ever since the human boy had rescued him from the beach that day, he'd been absolutely smitten with him, having decided they were going to be together way before Hajime even knew he was into boys. At first, Iwaizumi just went along with it to humour him, but over time his affections for the mermaid grew into something more than just endearment.

"Mhm. You're so extra. We live together Oikawa. Why the hell are you bringing me a flower?"  
He took the flower anyways, pressing a quick kiss to the mermaid's lips.

Oikawa looked genuinely surprised that Iwaizumi wouldn't understand why he was giving him a flower. He shook his head a little and laughed as he pressed a kiss to the male's cheek.

"Because it's pretty, of course!" The mermaid told him as he smiled down at the flower his boyfriend was now holding. "Don't you like it, Darling? I thought it would brighten up your first day..."

"You're a fucking dork, okay? C'mon. We'll be late for class you airhead." Iwa tucked the flower into the front pocket of his shirt and laced his fingers with Oikawa's, pulling the boy along with him to the main building.  
"You really gotta tone down just about everything, okay? I'm not going to lose you cause you can't keep your tail under wraps."

Oikawa smiled easily and followed after him, taking absolutely no offence to the insults that Iwaizumi threw his way. They'd ended up growing up together for the past ten years, so Oikawa was very familiar with the way that Iwaizumi worked. His nicknames came from affection and he only yelled and scolded him because he cared.

"Hmm?" The boy hummed a bit as he turned to look across at his human, his eyebrows raising slightly in a way that made it clear he'd been daydreaming rather than paying attention. "Oh!" he nodded quickly and saluted him. "Don't worry Iwa-chan, I know what I'm doing!"

Once they were inside the large building, Hajime pulled Tooru out of the main hallway and pushed him up against the back wall of a small alcove.

" _Ah_!" Tooru called out in surprise as he felt Iwaizumi tug on his hand and the push him up against the wall. His cheeks flushed at first, making to start protesting by pushing him off. "Darling- not here-" he began, before looking at him properly.

"Tooru. Listen to me. Like, actually _listen_. Please don't mess this up, okay? I actually want to go to University with you and I can't be constantly worried that you'll out yourself...."

  
His hands reached up to rest on the human boy's cheeks, kissing him gently. "I wouldn't mess anything up for you... you know I want you to be happy," he smiled widely and closed his eyes as his face shone.

Iwa cupped his face back and looked him over for a moment before sighing and kissing him intently.

"I know.... I know it would never be on purpose..."

  
Iwaizumi really _did_ have a reason to be worried, having grown up being the protector of Tooru's genetic heritage details he'd grown to be very defensive over the mermaid, and very much hinted at always being worried about how flamboyantly not-human Tooru acted for anyone who knew anything at all about the creatures that did actually live amongst them.

There were plenty of creatures that slotted themselves into society, humans were split into two categories; the ones that knew about them and the ones didn't.

According to law, all creatures were supposed to be registered with the government for their own protection. However most of them did their best to live undetected and unmonitored, knowing that this was just how they used you for personal gain. Oikawa’s own parents had been hunted down and were kept in tanks, experimented on within an inch of their lives and barely seeing past the confines of their glass prisons.

For a moment, Tooru looked almost upset by the words. Even if it wasn't on purpose then it would still be his fault, he knew that was what that meant. Seeing Iwaizumi unhappy would be sure to hurt him just as much, especially if he knew it was because of something he'd done. Considering everything the Iwaizumi family had put on the line for him (and how happy and proud he was to share their name even on paper) he knew it was the least he could do to really try.

The mermaid breathed in deeply as he opened his eyes, smoothing his hair out and then front of his shirt. "I'll be careful... I promise..."

"....love you..." Iwa mumbled that a bit, used to the constant affections from Tooru, but still getting used to the concept of actually saying it back occasionally. "You ready for class now?

  
Oikawa's whole face lit up again, before he quickly managed to compose himself and nodded his head rather eagerly. "I'm ready for anything!" He said with genuine enthusiasm. No, the classes he picked weren't really what he was into- but knowing Iwaizumi was interested in them made it important to him. He clapped his hands. "This is exciting. I've never had a first day before."

  
"No... mom and dad always taught you from home..." Iwaizumi settled them down in the middle of the large general education class for law degree prospectives. "Just remember we gotta be quiet during class okay?"

Oikawa nodded and put his finger to his lips as he winked at Iwaizumi and took his seat beside the boy. Of course it didn't stop him from cosying up to his human, head resting against the boy's broad shoulders. "I can be quiet sometimes," he giggled softly, "don't be so rude, Darling~" he fiddled with Iwaizumi's left ring finger.

  
"Mhm. Only when I bribe you to shut up." Iwa looked down at their entwined fingers and at the ring that hung down from the chain on his neck. It was the ring that Oikawa had given him years ago now as a sign of declaring Iwaizumi as his mate for life. He would wear it when the two of them were at home, but for school as to not risk losing it the male wore it around his neck, always reminded that Tooru definitely wanted the ring to always stay on his finger by how the boy seemed to obsess over checking for the ring on his hand and getting mildly huffy when it wasn't.

"You got worried when I stopped speaking that time... remember when you-" the boy stopped speaking suddenly as he felt Iwaizumi's hand clamp over his mouth, obviously not keen on Oikawa spilling a whole torrent of information on their sex life to a class full of students. Tooru giggled again and reached up to pull Iwaizumi's hand away, staying quiet as the teacher started talking, but not really able to pay all that much attention to what was going on and was hanging around Iwaizumi’s neck instead.

  
Iwaizumi was the one who took notes all through the lecture, catching the eye of another student when the professor went too quickly over one section and refused to repeat anything he'd said just moments before.

  
Hajime grumbled a bit after the class wrapped up.  
"Who the hell refuses to go over information again if he said it too damn fast?"

  
Oikawa shook his head a little and somewhat copied Iwaizumi's frown, playing with the boy's hair and twisting it around his fingers. "I know, it's awful!" He huffed, though it was obvious he didn't quiet follow what was going on. "Shall I ask him? I can use my charm..." he batted his lashes.

"No!" Iwa shook his head and flicked Oikawa's nose, "Idiot, you'd get caught."

Oikawa squeaked and covered his nose with his hands. "But I know from books and TV that people flirt with teachers all the time..." he argued for a moment before shrugging his shoulders and swinging his long legs together and smiling.

“I'll ask around for help, I need to make some decent _human_ friends.”

"Okay!" The mermaid agreed easily, happy to go along with whatever Iwaizumi wanted.

  
Iwa gave him an odd look and shook his head, ignoring most of the strange looks he and Oikawa got from other students at the mermaids strange outburst about flirting at schools.

  
"I really need to tell mom to stop letting you stay up late to watch all that crap telly....."

  
"But it's fun," Oikawa rested his chin in his hand as he looked up at Iwaizumi before slowly getting to his feet. Though television probably really didn't help Tooru's romantic notions and love for drama, not to mention how it must have skewed his view on human nature a little. "I like it." He beamed.

His and Iwaizumi's mother watched the soaps together.

Iwa shook his head and nudged Tooru out of the way to go over to the blonde kid with the glasses who had been watching them with a mildly perplexed expression.

  
"Hey, did you manage to catch that part the professor refused to go over again?"

  
Tooru followed after him, catching onto the back of his shirt as he stood behind him and rested his chin on the boy's shoulder. He closed his eyes and hummed, unaware of the skeptical look he was getting from the tall blonde.

Tsukishima eyed the taller of the two a little wearily, before nodding his head and smirking a little. "Why? Not manage to keep up?" Though he did have his book ready to hand over to him.

  
" _Someone_ decided to be a pest and take my pen from me at that moment." Iwaizumi shrugged off Oikawa, shaking his head. "I'm Iwaizumi."

  
Tsukishima looked at the brunette again and gave a slight raise of his brow at the look of dreamy content on his face as he wound his arms around Iwaizumi.

"Tsukishima." He greeted as he handed his note book over to him. "And you are...?" The boy looked at Tooru.

  
"Mm? I'm his wife!"

  
_"Riiight..."_

  
Iwaizumi groaned a bit and pushed Tooru off of himself, "Tooru, but call him Oikawa." He held up the ring for Tsukki to see then sat down to copy the notes on the one section. "He's a pain in the ass so feel free to just tell him to shut up."

  
Oikawa whined a little as Iwaizumi pushed him away, his large brown eyes looking wide with hurt as he pouted. He took the seat next to him, quietly this time as he watched him writing.

  
Tsukishima looked baffled. "That's a big commitment." He murmured to him, talking probably not solely about marriage but marriage to Oikawa specifically. But hey, sometimes people just knew. His best friend Tadashi's parents had been childhood sweethearts.

  
"It's still just fiancée, but he keeps insisting on saying wife already. Oh well." He handed the notebook back to Tsukishima and gave him a small smile.

"That's because I am, nobody else is going to be your wife." Tooru smiled as he rested his cheek up against the boy's shoulder and wrapped his arms around Iwaizumi's left one.

  
"Congratulations." Tsukishima bowed his head.

"Like I said. A pain in the ass.” Iwaizumi muttered. “But yea, law major is hard work. Then there's deciding if I keep going on to go to law school to get my licence. I think Shittykawa here is just going to school for the fun of it."

  
Tsukishima couldn't imagine why anybody would think of school as fun, but maybe if he had no background pressure he might enjoy it more.

  
"Why do you have to call me that? You should give me a nice nickname like I do you..." he huffed slightly, but then smiled and nodded. "My darling is really smart, I'm here to keep an eye on him."

  
"I almost prefer Iwa-chan over darling." Iwaizumi held out his phone to Tsukishima, "Gimme your number so in case something happens in class we'll have someone we can call to get the notes or whatever."

  
Oikawa's eyes grew wide for a moment. "Darling!" He shook his head a little and tugged on Iwaizumi's hand, pouting as he glowered a little at Tsukishima. "Why do you need his number for?"

  
"Uh..." Tsukishima did not want to be in the middle of a domestic. "Here. Just take my LINE." He muttered.

  
Iwaizumi just ignored Oikawa and saved Tsukishima's number. He got up and waved to Tsukki, "Good luck with the rest of your classes."

  
"Oh... sure." Tsukishima bowed his head to him, "hopefully I'll see more of you and less of him," he rolled his eyes as Oikawa stuck his tongue out at the blonde.

"Bye bye!" The brunette called.

  
Iwaizumi laughed a bit at that and started pushing Oikawa out of the room, "Get a move on Fussykawa. I got other classes to get to."

  
"What class are we going to now?" Oikawa asked him as he blinked rapidly, looking around the corridor and pushing his hair out of his face. "When's lunch? I'm really hungry too..."

  
"Biology." He shrugged and held onto Tooru's hand, walking him across the large courtyard of the school to the science building. "You'll get lunch after this class."

  
"Oh now that one sounds fun!" Oikawa cried out, taking his hand and squeezing his hand tightly. "I'm good at biology, which means you are too. Especially marine type!" He nodded his head. "Oh good! I like lunch."

  
"It's human biology, not animal biology, dummy." Iwa shook his head and pulled him along faster, thinking that the sooner he could get Oikawa to settle down or shut up the better it would all turn out.

  
"Oh... well! I'm good at that too..." Oikawa grinned as he sneaked his hand up the underneath of the boy's shirt and giggled. He quickened his pace when Iwaizumi did, reaching the right class. "Can we sit by the window?"

"You just gotta stay quiet but sure." He nudged the mermaid into the room and towards the back half of the area, pointing at an open desk by the window. "Go sit."

  
Oikawa made a shushing noise at Iwaizumi as he nodded his head and went to take the seat under the large window of the science block. He gazed out at the campus grounds with interest, his soft brown eyes following the butterflies that were flitting about amongst the plants.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oikawa is so extra in this it's ridiculous. I just couldn't help myself...
> 
> I promise this will eventually build up into something big, but for now view this as an introduction to our boys in their starring roles


	2. Promises

Thankfully this class period Oikawa was distracted enough to leave Iwaizumi alone enough so the human could actually get all his notes done. He yawned a bit at the end, shaking his head.  
"Mmm... lunchtime! Then my next class isn't for another couple of hours."

Oikawa beamed at him. "What do you think they have for lunch? I do hope it's fish... with lots of salt," he licked his lips and held up one hand. It didn't really matter if he'd written his own notes or not because as long as one of them did the note taking they both had all they needed. Besides... it was still too early to tell if Oikawa was going to take this seriously or not.

Iwa shook his head and shrugged, "We can go out to eat later if the cafeteria doesn't have fish."  
He pulled Tooru up to his feet, pressing a quick kiss to his cheek, "C'mon, let's get some food into you."

"Mm... how about salted squid? Or peppered mackerel... maybe cuttlefish?" Tooru launched into a happy list of all the possible foods he could go for right now. Like most other creatures he had a pretty big appetite. But that was good - meant he was healthy.

Though he did end up trying to overfeed Iwaizumi too.

"Or how about we just eat what the cafeteria has because I know you'll eat anything I tell you to eat." Iwa lace their fingers together, chuckling a bit to himself.

He really did love the mermaid, even with his annoying habits and firm belief that soap operas had a lot of truth to them.

"It must have a fish dish, no?" Oikawa's mouth formed into a small 'o' as he looked at Iwaizumi like he had all the answers and would know such a thing. He did practically glow as the human boy kissed him, the tips of his ears wiggling a little as he did so.

"Not always. Now hush and eat what you're given okay?" He rolled his eyes at Tooru, not so secretly pleased that even the simplest acts of affection seemed to make the mermaid extremely happy.

"Okay!" Tooru beamed as he nodded his head. Usually he'd never turn down anything Iwaizumi gave him even if he didn't particularly want it. A habit that had made him constantly sick as a kid when he wasn't used to or adapted to processed human foods.

Thankfully now the years of Oikawa getting sick over human food were more or less behind them, but, the sheer amount of food the creature had to eat would probably always stay the same.

"They have fish fingers? Hey, it's better than nothing-” he added when Oikawa made a slight face.

"Okay... but we should go somewhere nice for dinner!" He trilled happily as he took a tray and rested it on the side to add various bits and pieces onto his plate.

"I'll check if mom has any plans or not." Even though there was more of a commute, Iwaizumi and Oikawa still lived with Iwa's parents, though they had slowly gotten used to the concept of leaving the two of them alone at night and in the mornings after one too many accidental walk ins on private times.

"We can all go out together! As a family!" Tooru said eagerly as he nodded his head and bounced a little on the balls of his feet as he did so. "What are you having, darling?" He asked, tilting his head.

"Uh, just a salad?"

"You can't just have a salad. You need protein and meat if you want to stay strong!"

"I can put chicken on the salad. Feel better now?" He rolled his eyes and started to fill up his bowl of salad with strips of chicken and some black beans, using a balsamic dressing.

Oikawa kissed his cheek. "I'm just looking out for you," he told him brightly, nodding as he watched him properly fill his bowl and beamed proudly.

"Mmmmm. I'm sure you're just wanting me to be strong and healthy for my own sake and it has nothing to do with how much you like me being strong enough to lift and carry you everywhere."

Oikawa giggled a bit. "Don't be silly, Iwa-chan. I'd love you even if you were small and scrawny like when we were kids," he nuzzled into him. Then he added a bottle of water onto the tray and chucked a few salt packets on the side to add into it later. "Shall I pay for yours too, Darling?"

"Just swipe your student ID card. We paid to get lunches on campus, remember?" He leaned back into him slightly and kissed his cheek, feeling a bit more comfortable now that most of the day was done.

"Oh... that's right," Tooru said, amazed as he swiped his card and saw his name flash up along with how much credit he had on there. "Amazing," he sighed out as he carried his tray over to find a seat. "We can save up and go to the teahouse again, how's that?"

His brown eyes turned on Iwaizumi. "Really?" He asked brightly, "that would be fun! They have that pretty pool I can swim in..."

"I'm sure everyone would want to say hi to you again too." He swiped his own card and sat down at a mostly empty table to eat.

The Teahouse was a sort of safe haven for the creatures that inhabited the town, a place they could go anyway from humans and not have to hide. Iwaizumi was amongst one of the very few humans who were able to visit there considering his and Tooru's relationship.

"I hope so! They were all so nice last time..." he hummed thoughtfully before shaking his head a little, then leaning across the table to smile brightly at Iwaizumi. He settled into eating his lunch and tore open a packet of sea salt to pour into the water that he'd just bought.

"Remind me to buy a water bottle for you. So you can just cart around your own water and make it taste just right for you."

Iwaizumi scanned the room, recognising a few students as ones who either worked at the tea house or as ones who attended as patrons. Most of the students though were very much human.

Oikawa slid his legs around Iwaizumi's under the table. "That sounds good!" He agreed, happy that even now Iwaizumi was finding ways to accommodate him. Of course he was good at feeling out other creatures, but certainly he didn't see any other mer types around. Which was probably a good thing.

Even though he was human, Iwa did have the barest hint of a magical capability but mostly it only showed itself in his ability to with more accuracy than not, pick out who was a creature or not. But only after he'd done years of focus training with Saeko on it.

Saeko was the resident witch who made sure the Teahouse was protected under various enchantments.

"We should take the bus back home after class ends."

Tooru made a small grumbling noise. "I don't like the bus. It's noisy and smelly," he whined as he drank his whole bottle of water in one go before looking down at his hands and waggling his fingers. "I do need a bath though," he hummed thoughtfully to himself.

"It's cheap and gets us only two blocks away from the house. C'mon. You'll survive." Iwa finished up his salad and leaned back in his chair, yawning a bit. "We got two hours to kill before my next class."

"That's a long time... what shall we do?" Oikawa asked as he slid his foot a little higher up Iwaizumi's leg with a small grin on his face. He chewed thoughtfully on his last fishfinger and hummed to himself.

Iwa glared at him but didn't actually make any indications that he was going to move from his spot. "We can walk around campus or go on one of the trails I saw they had."

"What are the trails?" Oikawa asked with interest. Then his eyes grew wide. "Maybe they have a pool! I know they have a swimming club!" His whole face lit up as he clapped his hands a couple of times.

Iwa pulled back sharply from the table and shook his head, snapping just a little bit, "We're _not_ going swimming, Tooru."

Oikawa plus pool meant an instant panic for Iwaizumi and would undoubtedly lead someone to call and find out what Oikawa really was.

Oikawa stared at him for a moment and pressed his fingers together, looking mildly uncomfortable before he nodded. "Okay..." he mumbled rather dejected. "No swimming then..."

"Sorry.... we just...." Iwa looked away and huffed, not liking that a few students in the cafeteria were watching them now. "You know why we can't go swimming...."

"No...." Oikawa blinked innocently at him as he shook his head. "I won't get too excited! Not again..." he flushed a little and shrugged his shoulders before fiddling with the wrapper of his water bottle. "It's okay.. we don't have to,"

"I'll run you a salt bath at home..." Iwaizumi rubbing the back of his head and looked away, sighing a bit. He really did hate to deny Oikawa anything, but, when it came to protecting him from the government, then there was no way in hell Hajime was about to lose him.

"Do you want to share a bath with me?" Oikawa asked him, reaching out to take hold of the boy's hand as he traced his fingertip over the boy's palm and hummed a soft song that his mama used to sing to him as a baby.

"Yeah... yeah we could do that." He flushed a bit and looked down at their entertained fingers, using his other hand to fiddle with the ring on the chain.  
"I want to know what you want to do with this free time." 

"But I told you," Oikawa whined a little as he tugged on Iwaizumi's hand a bit and then fussed over him as he did up the boy's top button. "And you didn't want to swim! So now it's your turn to pick something! Not the library though... it's too quiet..."

"Then we'll go hiking and find a quiet spot or something and take a nap." He tilted his head up a bit to give Oikawa a better look at his collar, "Do I look better now?"

"Walking?" Oikawa cried, shaking his head a little as he smoothed out Iwaizumi's shirt in satisfaction. "You're lucky I like spending time with you. You should take me to the beach sometime."

"Mmm..." he chuckled a bit and pulled away from Tooru, grabbing his bag and taking his tray to toss the trash. "One would expect their wife to like spending time with them."

Oikawa blinked at him before jumping up to his feet to follow after him. Iwaizumi never called him that. His arms wrapped tightly around the shorter male and he hugged him tightly. "Oh! Darling! Of course I do." 

"Then we're going hiking." He wrapped an arm around Oikawa's waist, always in shock at how excitable the mermaid could get, but for now deciding to just let himself enjoy the attention even if it meant a few odd look from other students.

"How about you carry me?" Oikawa grinned at him as he took his hand and swung the boy's arm back and forth with his own. 

"Mmm perhaps once we actually start hiking I'll think about it." He nudged the boy through the entrance to the cafeteria and then led him off to the edge of campus where the trails started. "Or we could just find somewhere nice and quiet for the two of us...."

"What if we went hiking and got lost?" Oikawa looked genuinely worried as he shook his head a little and pressed his face against the boy's shoulder. "Then you'd miss classes... can we go see the garden?" 

"We won't Tooru. The path's too well marked." He pulled the boy up and started heading up the path, "c'mon. The garden's this way anyways. You can kiss me there." 

Tooru brightened as he hurried to follow Iwaizumi, picking up his pace and starting to run a little as he pulled him along. "Then why are we going so slow?" He cried.

Hajime rolled his eyes and ended up pulling Tooru off of the path when he saw a bit of a clearing, dropping his bag to the floor and pushing the mermaid up against a tree.

"Fancy meeting you here."

Oikawa flushed a bit and giggled at him, his arms draping over the boy's broad shoulders as he nuzzled against him. "Of course I'm here! I'm always where you are..." he moved his head a little to brush his lips against Iwaizumi's.

"Mm~ and aren't I lucky for that." He cupped Oikawa's face and deepened the kiss, using his free hand to hold onto the boy's hip tightly.

“ _Oh_ ~" Oikawa stammered out, his cheeks pink as he pushed forwards against Iwaizumi and swallowed before opening his mouth against the boy's lips. Kissing Iwaizumi always felt as good as the first time.

"You really were so good today... I'm proud of you Tooru." Iwa nipped at the boy's lips before pulling back to just look at him, chuckling a bit.

"I was wasn't I?" Oikawa said with a big smile, his hands reaching up to touch his lips gently as he watched him. "I told you it would all be okay. Oh Darling, you do worry so~"

"Mmm... it's still just day one." He pushed Oikawa a bit harder against the tree, pressing a feather light kiss to his lips. "I'll always worry about you."

"But we're never going to be far apart, so it's okay..." Oikawa insisted as he kissed him back, his fingers running up and down the nape of the boy's neck as he closed his eyes. "You're mine forever.. no?" He whispered against his lips.

Hajime nodded ever so slightly, pressing his nose against Tooru's. “Forever's a long time for a human, Tooru. But I'd spend every moment of it with you."

"I don't want you to go without me..." Oikawa told him, his hands tightening in the boy's hair for a moment as he spoke. He'd mentioned it a couple times before, their difference in mortality. It didn't show now... but in a few years Oikawa would be just the same... not any older.

The huge concern back when both of them were so very little and Tooru's parents had started to see that he was creating his life bond to Iwaizumi was the fact that Iwa was human through and through. Mermaids slowed in the ageing process the older they got which meant he'd die long before Oikawa would look any older than twenty.

Of course there was one solution. Mermaid blood. The reason Hajime was particularly determined to keep Tooru's secret was that mermaid blood, if drunk by a human, had properties that could lengthen your life. Hence why there were so few now since they'd almost been hunted out of existence.

"I know...." Hajime pressed a kiss to his forehead and sighed softly, "I love you, Tooru."

Oikawa gripped onto the back of his shirt. "You'll stay with me, won't you?" He asked as he looked down at him, his brown eyes warn and full of genuine love adoration as they sparkled a little with tears. "We can stay together and be happy and I can look after you! We'll be a little family... like always."

"Dumbass, of course I'm going to stay with you. I'm not going to fall in love with anyone else." He reached up and wiped away the tears, shaking his head a bit.  
"I just... I need to think about it more..."Hajime really did love Tooru, and even with that, he was terrified of the idea of living longer than anyone else and just watching as people grew old and died all around him while he stayed young. Yet, he also knew that it was only a matter of time before he caved and said yes, not wanting to ever be the reason Oikawa got genuinely sad.

"I've got time." Oikawa gave him a small smile before he slid down the tree and rested his head back against the rough bark, looking up at the falling leaves and holding his hand out as if reaching for something.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This story is not going to just be about Iwaoi, but they'll remain my main pairing and storyline - though you'll be introduced to the others and their stories soon! ✨ 

**Author's Note:**

> Currently it won't let me tag all ships and characters because my phone is being a pest but eventually I will be able to


End file.
